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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22661869">ascension</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LNC/pseuds/LNC'>LNC</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aged Up, Drinking, F/M, LadyNoir - Freeform, ML Guess Who Challenge, Patrol, Seine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 15:29:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>956</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22661869</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LNC/pseuds/LNC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An off the clock rendezvous.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>272</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>THEME:  Seine</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>ascension</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You didn’t have to get me drunk to kiss me,” Chat murmured, ruining everything.</p><p>Ladybug’s sigh brushed his lips even as she pulled away.  </p><p>“And now I never will.” She slipped the bottle of wine from his limp hands and took another swig.</p><p>“No, wait!” He said, regretting he opened his mouth at all. “I’ll be good, I promise. Try me again.”</p><p>He made a show of puckering his lips dramatically.</p><p>Ladybug laughed, voice low, and the sound settled somewhere deep within him.  Her suit was cool against his nose as she gently pushed him away.</p><p>“Maybe next time, minou.”</p><p>Chat sighed, stamping down his disappointment in favor of <em> next time</em>.  If he was very, <em> very </em> good next time could still be tonight.  There was something soft and inviting about his lady this evening, an openness, a sweetness, that had nothing to do with the bottle of red wine he’d managed to swipe from his father’s collection.</p><p>When Ladybug messaged him and asked to meet up tonight he didn’t know what he was expecting.  Especially not when she followed up her invitation with a request to bring alcohol. It only took a few suggestive cat emojis for her to tell him to fuck off and forget it.  It took several apologies and the promise of an expensive cabernet to get her to meet him on the concrete embankment of the Left Bank.</p><p>“I just wanted to be stupid tonight, Chat.” She said before he could ask, taking the wine and the seat beside him.  “Sloppy drunk and stupid.”</p><p>He could drink to that.</p><p>He could drink to a lot of things when his lady looked at him like <em> that </em>.</p><p>Sparkling eyes, generous smiles, and a blush he hoped was only partially attributed to the wine.</p><p>“I feel itchy all over,” She murmured when the lapping of the water beneath their feet became drums in the silence.  “Like there’s a tag under my skin.”</p><p>“Mmm,” He said because it seemed like she wanted him to.  Ladybug leaned her head against his shoulder and passed him the bottle.</p><p>“Don’t you ever just want to do something crazy and irresponsible?”</p><p>Chat grinned.  “Well…"</p><p>“Stop,” She pinched his side.  “You know what I meant.”</p><p>He did.</p><p>You didn’t grow up in Gabriel Agreste’s household and not learn a thing or two about rebellious impulses. Even if he wasn’t brave enough to follow through on them.</p><p>“Yeah, bug. I do.”</p><p>“How do you deal?”</p><p><em> I think about </em> you<em>. </em></p><p>Chat didn’t say it.  He wasn’t <em> stupid</em>.  And he knew the answer would only make her more restless.  Ladybug came to him to shed her burdens not pick up more.</p><p>It didn’t change the fact that every time he thought about doing something reckless or stupid or even just a little dangerous he only had to think of his lady and those impulses fled.  For better or worse, Ladybug was just as much his moral compass as she was her own.</p><p>Feeling the tension in her bones as she pressed up against his side reminded him just how fair that really wasn’t.</p><p>“What do you want to do?” He asked instead.</p><p>She sent him a side-long lashful glance that had him gasping for breath.  He looked away first, to preserve his sanity. Ladybug pulled away to lean back against her hand.</p><p>She was staring at him.</p><p>He could see it in their murky reflections in the waters of the Seine which were murkier still.  A red and black and black and green haze in the dim lamp post lights. Chat wondered if she liked what she saw as much as he liked that she was looking at all.</p><p>“What?” He said, when her attention became too much.  He was never more thankful for his mask as he was then, blushing under the heat of her gaze.</p><p>She smiled. “Nothing.”</p><p>“No, seriously.” His eyes caught hers in the water and the smile widened. “What?”</p><p>“Narcissus drowned doing that, you know?” She said instead, kicking their reflections away.</p><p>“Rude. I was staring at you.”</p><p>“I know.” She hummed but she didn’t sound <em> dis</em>pleased by the idea.</p><p>“Oh you do?” Chat said, looking away from her watery counterpart to stare at the original.</p><p>Now it was <em> her </em> turn to avoid his gaze.  She was still smiling.</p><p>Disturbed and determined he reached for her hand, ready to shake the secrets behind those pretty pink lips right out of her.  Unfortunately the hand he grabbed was also supporting the majority of her weight and his unthinking gamble sent her falling backwards and sideways on the pebbled pavement.</p><p>Ladybug met Chat Noir’s unnatural gaze, unnatural-er still as he stared down at her in a hazy kind of horror.  His hands were outstretched, claws twitching but frozen between them. Ladybug bit her lip but a stray giggle escaped anyways, filling the otherwise quiet night.</p><p>“I hope this isn’t what you meant when you said I’d fall for you.”</p><p>Chat groaned, burying his face in his hands.</p><p>
  <em> So much for next time. </em>
</p><p>He could hear his lady shifting beside him as she pulled herself up.  He nearly jumped as her fingers found his wrists, gently pulling his hands away from his face.</p><p>Her eyes were brighter than stars, smile sweeter than wine.</p><p>“I’m ready to be stupid now.” She said, her face once again tantalizingly close to his.</p><p>Chat nearly fainted as her lips brushed his once, twice, before she pulled away, his pathetic mewl escaping with her.</p><p>It wasn’t enough.  It would <em> never </em> be enough.</p><p>He could practically <em>feel </em> the heat of Ladybug’s smile radiating against his own and his hands reached out for her pulling her back to him even as she said</p><p>“Is it next time yet?”</p>
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